In Overwatch the “Play of the Game” moment is shown after each round, usually a particularly impressive action by a player. But how does the game determine which actions are worthy of such recognition?
One round of Overwatch is over and all players are still sitting in front of their screens full of anticipation, waiting for the “Play of the Game” moment. Because here it shows who had the supposedly coolest action in the last battle. For example, McCree, who takes down opponents one after the other, or an entire team that goes down in the hail of bullets from a particularly deviously positioned Bastion.
But how does Overwatch decide which of the many moments and actions in the last round deserve such mention at the end of the game? For this topic, the website Gamespot interviewed Blizzard employee and programmer Rowan Hamilton.
“Computers don’t actually know what is cool”
It is hard, Hamilton says, to let a computer decide what a cool moment is and what isn’t. Therefore, the system behind the “Play of the Game” is also complex and in constant flux. That’s why the developers regularly look at heroes who have a particularly high number of “Play of The Game” moments.
If they feel these heroes are overrepresented or the associated gameplay mechanics are simply not exciting, they change variables in their program.
Therefore, the monk Zenyatta no longer automatically gets a “Play of the Game” every time he just hovers in the air and uses his ultimate. The massive healing spike of this skill had inflated the selection algorithm every time.
Skill matters!
This algorithm includes a lot of factors and variables, so many that Hamilton can’t list them all. However, one interesting detail: The system considers both healing and the circumstances under which successes are achieved. So, for example, if one casually gives headshots to players who are AFK at the other end of the map as Widowmaker, it counts far less than if one accurately blows the head off a wildly darting Tracer.
The system is always in motion and is constantly being developed and revised. Therefore, we might soon see other “Play of the Game” moments than just Bastion in constant fire or Junkrat blowing up half the team with his tire again.
The title image and the second Bastion GIF are from this Kotaku article. It has compiled numerous “This Bastion always gets Play of the Game, while I should get it!” memes.
Overwatch 2 is a hero shooter by Blizzard and the evolution of the first Overwatch. Now in a free-to-play variant and with some modifications to the original ga...
